


Picture

by denna5



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-25
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2018-01-09 23:16:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1151968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denna5/pseuds/denna5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for this prompt though I am not sure if it quite fits it.</p>
<p>Steve was studying art before the war, and now has decided to get back into it. He decides to try to draw objects he sees in every day life. Couches, coffee cups, jets, even the Iron Man suit he is able to capture on paper. But there's just something about Clint's bow that he just can't get. <br/>So he keeps trying, and if he happens to spend a lot of time watching Clint at the range, how else is he supposed to watch how the bow moves? And if his sketches of the bow start including Clint, that's just because it's hard to show on object in tension with no one there to apply a force. And if Clint starts being shirtless in more of Steve's sketches...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Picture

**Author's Note:**

> So this popped into my head when I saw this prompt. It is pretty reflective and not quite like the prompt but hopefully people enjoy it.

There is something reassuring about drawing, an old comfort in the feel of pencil and paper. Steve wonders if it is because it is a part of his life before everything else, before the war or the ice, or if it is simply because it is one of the few things that has not changed so drastically. There is all that digital drawing and computer information but sketch pads and pencils are still very much the old friend that he remembers them being.  Sometimes he thinks that drawing helps him see things, to understand them and he needs it that more than ever now.

It takes time to pick it back up but he finds his passion for it again. He draws when he can, people, places, mostly from memory at first.  It is hard to draw Bucky’s face, to know it will never quite look right, to draw Peggy’s and know that he never got to see the changes that time would bring to it in anything other than photographs. He puts those drawings away, makes himself draw things that are present now, that are in front of him and not just in his mind.

He starts with objects, things that are small. It is just mostly S.H.E.I.L.D  stuff for a while, the coffee cups and things they provide him, the furniture in his rooms.  He draws almost as many punching bags as he goes through in those first few months.  There are pictures of the objects that remind him of his past and pictures of the things that remind him he is in a different time.  He keeps up a steady stream of drawings and they show a reflection of his surroundings, of his coming to terms with being a man out of time. Steve spends his time drawing whatever he can find and getting used to his new life when New York, Loki, happens.  It stops the drawings but only until the battle is over.

With New York comes the Avengers and then soon Steve is surrounded by new objects, by new people and he draws them all.  He feels like he is sketching the person when he sketches what they own, that he is seeing pieces of them, the parts that make a whole. He is able to learn about the people who live in this tower by what he draws, can compare the objects to the person when he flips through the book, knows which picture is who.

There are many sketches of Natasha’s knives, her sharp little blades that do not look like they should cause as much harm as they do. There is a shine to them, a beauty, but also a sturdiness, a dependability that took Steve time to see, to capture and understand. Mjolnir graces a few pages and it is was easy to capture its strength, how intimidating it is, but it was harder to get its vibrancy,  its eagerness. Bruce’s books always  have creases in the paper, a little detail that is not always noticed at first but can be seen in most of his drawings. Tony’s tools appear in many pictures, are constantly found due to all the tinkering, the not being able to accept one solution. Steve loves his drawings, loves being able to capture these little facets of his teammates but there is one possession that he can never quite get right, Clint’s bow.

There are so many sketches of it but none capture the simple beauty, the strength of it. He spends time on it, stares at it, just looking at it so much that Clint asks him if he is planning on switching the shield for it.  It is a tease and he lets Steve hold the bow, touch it, but it doesn’t help his sketches.

He decides that perhaps it needs to be drawn in action and so he watches Clint at the range, shoots the breeze with the man. Clint hardly ever misses and Steve admires how he practices. He fills books up with sketches of the bow during these times. These drawings start to include Clint, just his arms at first, pulling the bow tight, but soon all of him is shown.  He draws Clint shooting it, standing with it, cleaning it with gentle hands.  He draws Clint’s look of concentration when he shoots, his smile when he makes a target. Each picture becomes more and more detailed and soon Steve realizes it is not the bow he wants to capture, to understand. It is Clint himself that intrigues him so much.

It is a gradual shift in their relationship, a respect that turns to friendship, a friendship that is not quite love yet but may be some day.  They get comfortable with each other, seek out each other because after New York they are both lost in some ways.

The first time they kiss is after Clint sees one of the sketches of the bow, remarks on how good it is. Steve doesn’t agree but he does not argue when Clint brushes his lips against his, asks if he can have the sketch. Steve gives it to him, almost blushes a bit.  He starts to make sketches just for Clint after that. It gets him more kisses even if he still has not quite captured what makes the bow so special but he is all right with that, feels he understands it even if he can’t draw it. 


End file.
